


of good deeds and better outcomes

by NaomiLeyers



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brienne of Tarth is the Best, Charity Auctions, F/M, Mentions of incest, Minor Renly Baratheon/Loras Tyrell, Past Abuse, Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:08:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaomiLeyers/pseuds/NaomiLeyers
Summary: where Jaime attends a charity date auction organized by his father and he is eventually really glad he did
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 16
Kudos: 185





	of good deeds and better outcomes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [janie_tangerine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/gifts).



> Nothing belongs to me except plot and all mistakes are my own

The crowd is cheering wildly.

That should be an exaggeration of the century, after all this is a beneficial and not _games_ and Jaime is currently standing in a family-friendly restaurant and not in Colosseum. Still, the hunger in some of the women’s eyes reminds him, not so nicely, of starved lions.

“I am very glad you have agreed to come here for tonight, dear ladies and gentlemen,” his father says, loudly and fake-happily, which is not entirely true, to be quite fair.

As in, his father probably _is_ happy that so many people have agreed to come over, given the amount of scandals Jaime’s family happened to live-through in the last few months; after _that_ thing with Aerys in Iraq, followed by Rheagar’s not-at-all nice breakup with Jaime’s sister, followed by her agreement to an arranged marriage to Robert Baratheon of all people, Tywin is probably happy _anyone_ has agreed to come over. It also explains why this _Charity Date Auction_ is taking place at all, given Tywin’s _and_ Cersei’s utter lack of interest for any kind of charity for the _entirety_ of Jaime’s life.

Either way, it is not as if he actually had any other choice but to participate and so he leans back against his chair and waits, patiently until it’s his turn and when, finally, they get to the end, he forces himself to smile charmingly, he gets up and walks up the stage.

“Oh, why not, 1500,” a deep male voice laced with amusement says.

And it is alright; Jaime totally _can_ live with a dinner with Renly Baratheon of all people, who, he knows is not so casually dating Loras Tyrell and has probably only agreed to bid on anyone because, just like Jaime could not avoid _participating_ , Renly couldn’t avoid _attending_ , not when his brother is marrying Tywin’s daughter in a couple of months and for all Jaime knows, Loras is in Paris with _his_ sister anyway so it is not like Renly has an excuse not to attend.

“2000,” Taena Merryweather counters immediately, which is _worse_ but not horribly and Renly gives her an annoyed glare that probably says something between _“Why are you doing this to me?”_ and _“Whatever, it is for a good cause.”_ and raises his offer to 3000, making her smirk as she shoots back “3500.”

Jaime leans back against his pillar and exchanges a tired smile with Tyrion who is appointed for the night as the auctioneer.

Except then-

“6000.”

Cersei’s voice is silky and sweet when she says that and Jaime is suddenly very thankful for the pillar he is leaning against because otherwise he would have probably collapsed and he suddenly feels sick and he knows his fingers are trembling, because _what is she even doing here,_ he agreed to take part in this event just and only because their father has sworn left and right she is on a business trip in Tokyo for the entire week and he can’t, he _can_ ’ _t_ be with her in one room, not now, not when he _finally_ found courage to break things between them after she got engaged with Robert and after she didn’t even bother showing up on his trial and after she told him (not for the first time, not even for the hundredth, for all he remembers) to _fucking man up_ , when he started having nightmares and he can’t, _can_ ’ _t_ -

“As cute as it is, let’s raise it a bit more, 6500.” Renly says, coldly, and Jaime could kiss him for the fact that he really dislikes the fact that Cersei is getting married to his brother.

“7000.” Cersei answers, still sweetly and her green eyes are still so fucking cold and when Jaime looks at Tyrion he can see sympathy in his eyes but also helplessness because he probably didn’t know of this either and there is not much he can do and the guests might find _Cersei_ bidding on him cute, but they definitely wouldn’t find it cute if _Tyrion_ did it.

“8000.” Renly says and then he sighs. “That’s about as high as I can reasonably go.”

And he is right, Jaime realizes with a shudder, there was no rule for neither minimal nor maximal bidder, but he is the last person tonight offering a date and the final price never went higher than 6500, so maybe-

“9000.” Cersei says and Jaime feels like he will definitely throw up, and he can see Tyrion murmur “Fuck.” and then he gets up and “Going once-“ “Such a sweet thing to do,” Taena says loudly. “Going twice-“

“10 000.” A deep, but definitely female voice says and Jaime looks its way and, well.

Later he is going to ask himself how come he didn’t notice the woman before, after all now he thinks she is impossible to miss, she is tall, probably even taller than him and she has broad shoulders and is wearing atrocious dress that definitely don’t suit her, her hair is blonde but not styled in any nice way and her nose looks like it has been broken several times but she also has incredibly blue eyes _and she has just stood up against Cersei_ and Jaime needs to stop trying to analyse this and concentrate and _somehow_ fucking get his trembling hands under control no matter the outcome.

“Really?” Cersei asks and she gives the woman a disgusted look and her voice loses some of its silkiness as she says “11 000.”

The woman sighs, looking like she wishes she was _anywhere_ else but here in the centre of _everybody_ ’ _s_ attention but her voice doesn’t shake. “Twelve,” she says and Cersei looks like she wants to do something that won’t be nice, but before she can, Renly beats her to it. “Maybe you should stop, sweetheart,” he tells her, in the same sick-sweet tone _she_ had before. “Before I ask _my_ brother if he’s fine with you using _his_ money to pay for _your_ brother’s time.”

Before Cersei can come up with an answer, Tyrion seizes the situation. “Going once, going twice, sold, to the nice lady in red dress,” he says without as much as breathing between individual words, making Tywin glare at him, because of course _this_ is what their father has a problem with, isn't it?

He suffers through a short applause, finds it in himself to smile and bow slightly and he watches the people leave or “collect their prizes” but either way they do not pay attention to _him_ anymore and maybe, maybe he has survived it.

“Oh well,” Cersei says, smiling again, “have fun with him. You clearly do need to _pay_ for his time,” she adds and of course she _had to_ say that and Jaime wishes he could afford telling her what a bitch she is, except that their father is still around and there are paparazzi waiting outside and Tywin would kill him for causing a scene and besides, to be completely honest, he is not particularly sure he could actually speak to her without screaming or throwing up right now.

He half expects the woman to fall to her knees in tears or maybe to carry him to Cersei saying “I am sorry, please, have him.” (He pointedly ignores the part of his brain which is finding it _really_ interesting that she could actually carry him.) Except that the blonde stands up and she really _is_ taller than he is and then she fucking smiles at Cersei.

“Weird,” she says easily, “I thought this wasn’t a _competition_. We were doing it for charity, weren’t we?”

“But of course,” Renly answers her dryly when Cersei is clearly too busy seething. “Cersei here is a walking image of generosity and hospitality. By the way, your father is waiting for you,” he adds to Cersei before she can come with anything else. “You shouldn’t keep him waiting. Those eighty courses won’t taste themselves.”

She glares at all of them as if she can’t decide who she dislikes most right now and then she walks away and Jaime lets out a small breath of relief and closes his eyes for a moment.

Later, after he has thanked Renly (who just shrugged and fake-whispered something about justice when _he_ is going to have to spend Robert’s wedding holding the hand of _Margaery_ Tyrell because god forbid he humiliates Cersei by inviting his _long-term boyfriend_ ) he finds his brother talking to the woman who _paid_ for a dinner with _him_. Talking to her about _Lessing_ for that matter.

“Ah and here he is,” Tyrion says easily, taking his business card from his pocket and giving it to her. “I’d love to hear more about your take on Orsina, call me. Well, I’ll leave you to discuss details. Come over when you are done,” he says to Jaime in a tone that doesn’t leave much space for discussion, not that Jaime isn't glad he is invited and maybe it just means they are going to get drunk together, but it is much better than getting drunk alone in his apartment that still feels entirely too much Cersei-ish.

They both watch Tyrion walking away and then they really look at each other for the first time and then she _blushes_?

“I’m Brienne,” she says sheepishly, hesitantly offering him a hand. “Brienne Tarth.”

“Jaime Lannister,” he answers, shaking it, “even though you probably know that.”

“I do,” she agrees. She has a nice, strong touch and her hands are big and rough and not at all like Cersei’s. “I mean. I watched the trial. And I was in army long enough to know you did the only thing you could possibly do if you wanted to actually look at yourself in the mirror ever again. Sorry, that wasn’t-“

“No, don’t apologize,” he interrupts her, wondering how come _she_ who met him approximately 30 seconds ago understands him more than his entire family save Tyrion.

“Okay,” Brienne says then and she blushes harder. “Ehm. I already sent the money to the bank account your brother gave me so it is done.”

“Then we should probably clear the details of your dinner then,” Jaime tells her, smiling for real for once and at that she looks at him and she smiles at him sadly.

“There’s no need, Jaime,” she says, “you don’t need to bother yourself with it. I know I am not… well. The kind of woman you would ask for a dinner.” And she is right in that, fuck, she has no idea how exactly right she is and he is so not telling her he only ever dated his sister, he is definitely _not_ going to tell her now, even though she probably has every right to know with precisely how damaged goods she is dealing. “I didn’t bid on you because I have illusions.”

He opens his mouth to tell her he actually does want to take her for that dinner, and then he closes it, trying to come up with a way that wouldn’t sound _bad._

“Then why did you?” he asks her instead of saying that eventually and she gives him the same sympathetic look she gave him when she was talking about the trial.

“I wasn’t going to,” she admits. “It looked like Renly was rather interested and I only came here because he didn’t want to go alone. But- well. You went all pale when your sister started bidding. I don’t know why and it’s not my business. But when Renly stopped bidding and it looked like she is going to win… You looked _sick_. And I meant what I told your sister. This was meant to be fun as much as a harmless way to get much money to the charity. It wasn’t supposed to make you look like that.”

Jaime forces himself to not cry at that because she has clearly seen him in enough of embarrassing moments for today, but he decides his life must really suck if this is the nicest thing anyone said to him this fucking year.

“I am free on Friday at seven,” he says and Brienne looks at him. “And I happen to know a restaurant where they make steaks that are almost worth dying for.”

“I just told you, you don’t have to do anything you surely don’t want,” she answers, annoyed and defensive and he allows himself to smirk for a second.

“That’s nice,” he tells her. “But I actually want to. I really, really do.”

“You actually want to,” she repeats, surprised and then something obviously breaks in her because she smiles, bright enough to make her face look beautiful and Jaime can’t help feeling elated that he is the reason she is smiling like that. “Well then I am not going to stop you.”

And alright, maybe he is grinning like a madman when she eventually walks away, after she has given him her number and maybe he doesn’t stop smiling until he reaches Tyrion’s flat and _maybe_ they don’t even get to the get-wonderfully-and-absolutely-drunk part, but hey, he is completely allowed to feel excited over the prospect of a date for once.

THE END


End file.
